1898 — 1902. No. 16.] FLOW. PLANTS AND FERNS OF N.-W. GREENLAND. 45 
aquatillis var. stans, which will probably be found in N. W. Greenland 
as its distribution in Danish Greenland points to an immigration from 
the north. . : 
N. W. Greenland is reached by the following american species, all 
spread in Ellesmereland: Taraxacum hyparcticum, Pedicularis capi- 
tata, P. arctica, Potentilla Vahliana, Hesperis Pallasii, Ranunculus 
Sabinei and further by Arabis Hookeri which is not found in Ellesmere- 
land. Erigeron compositus, Potentilla rubricaulis, Saxifraga tricus- 
pidata, Lesquerella arctica reach to North-eastern Greenland, as also 
Arabis arenosa which is found in Ellesmereland but not yet in N. W. 
Greenland. Dryas integrifolia shows, so far as present researches have 
gone, rather a curious distribution in East Greenland, one small area 
north of latitude 65° and another larger one from about 70° to 73}/2°, 
but it is not reported from the most northern known part of the coast. 
As it is found so far north on the west coast as Lockwood Island, 
there seems to be every possibility of its occurrence in the far north of 
the east coast also, so as to account for its appearance in the south. 
It may, perhaps, still be found to have a continuous area along the 
east coast. 
The most difficult question, however, is that connected with another 
group of plants in N. E. Greenland, the eastern species: Taraxacum 
arcticum, Polemonium humile, Gentiana tenella, Dryas octopetala, 
Saxifraga hieraciifolia, and Ranunculus glacialis, to which Saxifraga 
Hirculus must most probably be added (as far as this territory is con- 
cerned). They are all Spitsbergen plants, even though some of them 
are very rare in that country. Moreover they are found in Northern 
Europe, and some at least, are widely distributed in Northern Asia also. 
Four are also Iceland plants. It cannot of course be doubted that this 
group of species has reached Greenland from the east; but the great 
question is — how has such a migration heen effected? For those in- 
vestigators, who are inclined to credit the winds and marine currents 
with the capacity of transporting living seeds over almost unlimited di- 
stances, and of putting them safely in a convenient spot for germinating, 
the question is easily enough put aside, as we have the great polar current 
which flows in against the east coast of Greenland. In my opinion, 
however, there are some further problems to be solved. 
Even if we take for granted, that the seeds of these plants possess 
the required resistance to the influence of salt water, and that they can 
stand an ice-journey of several years, and afterwards find their way to 
convenient growingplaces in a new land, why are they entirely restric- 
